Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 ICS Update?

Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 ICS Update?

Well lo and behold. Let's see what this is. It seems like AT&T is doing it again. I have the Galaxy S2 Skyrocket which got the Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.4 update after about 9 months of it being released.

Now I also have the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 with the 4G LTE. I use this all the time for work, play, etc. Honeycomb 3.2 totally sucks as an interface. When is AT&T going to come out with Ice Cream Sandwich for this tablet? The WIFI version has it already and has for about a month or more now.

Come on AT&T and get with the program. I paid good money for this tablet and I pay the monthly data plan. The least you can do is provide an update, or heck, even HINT about when the update will be. But you can't even do that.

Some information would be nice to get from you. I have been with your company for 5 good years after leaving and coming back. Next time I leave it will be for good. There isn't any reason why this release should not have been out by now. You have had plenty of time.

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 ICS Update?

SAMSUNG AND AT&T ARE EQUALLY RESPONSIBLE

Yesterday, I got home and opened up my 8.9 Galaxy Tablet from AT&T. There was a system message saying call 888-XXX-XXXX for information about your device. I got excited and figured that I was finally going to get an update to ICS.

I called the number, which turns out to be Samsung's technical support. I'm given a menu, from which I choose tablet support. Let me say this again, I picked TABLET SUPPORT.

1ST Technician

The woman asks me why am calling. I tell her about the message on my TABLET. She proceeds to ask me a bunch of questions and can't find "anything in our system about your device." We play this game for about 10 or 15 minutes. Finally a tell her how unhappy I am with the whole situation. She's not interested in hearing about it. THEN SHE TELLS ME, "I'm in the phone support department. WE DON'T DEAL WITH TABLETS." Incredible! A major corporation like SAMSUNG can't even get the call routing right...She says she's going to transfer me to the tablet support line.

2nd Technician

This guy is nice and sympathetic. I give him the whole story AGAIN. He still can't tell me why I got the message on my tablet from Samsung. I give him all of the information about my device, numbers, etc. He goes off line and comes back saying "Your device has an update to Ice Cream Sandwich." HALLELUJAH! I'm think. So we try the menu on the tablet for software upgrade and it doesn't work. So Mr. Technician says, "we need to reset your device to factory standards so you can get the upgrade." I'm all in for that. We do the reset, which by the time we're done with all of the back and forth takes another 30 minutes. I try to upgrade again. Still no luck. He say's you're connected over Wi-Fi right? I say yes, and I am also connected via 4G. SILENCE ON THE OTHER END OF THE PHONE. Mr. Technician says something cute llike "Good Golly" I thought you had a Wi-Fi tablet. I'm sorry, THERE'S NO UPDATE AVAILABLE FOR YOU. I ONLY SUPPORT WI-FI TABLETS. He says very sheepishly, "I'm going to transfer you over to our Carrier Tablet Help Desk" (presumably where they HELP people that by AT&T products. Yeah, right.

3rd Technician

This woman ASKS ME ALL OF THE SAME STUFF AGAIN. Wastes another 10 minutes. Goes off line and comes back. "THERE IS NO UPDATE AND WE CAN'T TELL YOU WHEN THERE WILL BE ONE." There is one BIG piece of information howwer, and I quote:

"GOOGLE, AT&T and SAMSUNG all work together to determine when your device will be upgraded."

Perfect. An hour spent on the phone with totally clueless SAMSUNG and a hapless support system.

AT&T, you are the company I write a check to. Are you aware of this tragic abuse of your customers? Do you care? YOU HAVE ACCESS TO THIS FORUM. Why don't you stop hiding behind your website and marketing department and have the courtesy and guts to post a reply about what you think about this ridiculous situation? Even better, why don't you tell us what you're going to do to make things right?

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 ICS Update?

Had a chat session with a Samsung rep regarding ICS on the 8.9 and according to him it's at least being worked on, but of course, no release date has been scheduled yet. At least it's listed on this Samsung page, so hopefully it will be out sooner than later:

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 ICS Update?

2) I pay AT&T for services every month. Implied in that payment is technical support.

3) AT&T can't support the Tablet themselves. (AT&T has Samsung on the line twice in previous support calls)

4) I have never contacted Samsung on my own. They got my information from AT&T and were responding to me as a proxy for AT&T's technical support. From my perspective my comments should be read by AT&T and AT&T users.

5) IMHO, my experiences and post would be of general interest to anyone entertaining the purchase of a product from AT&T. AT&T says they have NO influence on when the tablet will be upgraded. I find this impossible to believe (What major corporation in its right mind would contract with a customer to provide a service and have NO ability to influence the 3rd party vendor to perform? If its true, then buyer beware...if it's false, then AT&T needs to come clean.

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 ICS Update?

Good points. I have a 8.9 LTE, what all this drama means is that I would never buy another tablet from ATT. The 4g has been mostly unused as wifi is so common now. So they tricked me into buying the 8.9 with a data plan, but I've got 9 more months of punishment for my poor decison. Next table will probably be a nexus or maybe an ipad, but neither will come from ATT.

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 ICS Update?

Bought a refurb 8.9 online at $199 and just got it today, fully aware that it comes with Honeycomb and that the update to ICS is in the works. Where has AT&T promised or guaranteed that ICS would be coming at a specific date for this tablet? Nowhere. So why would AT&T have any influence on the release? It'll be done whenever Samsung finishes testing and has a stable version ready for release. Period.

The tablet I got seems to be defective because it can't keep a consistent connection with the cellular network. Wi-Fi works fine. My iPhone 5 and iPad 2 have no problems connecting to the cellular network.

I went ahead and tried to update via Kies, which is made by Samsung, and the tablet cannot connect to it. It just constantly spins 'Connecting...' in the software. I went through all the troubleshooting steps in Kies, and even tried Kies on both Mac and Windows.

After hours of working with it, including doing a factory reset, I concluded something is wrong with the tablet. No biggie - I took a chance on a refurb, and it's a lemon.

Seeing as how I have 14 days, I went ahead and called AT&T to do an exchange. No problem whatsoever. A 'new' refurb is being shipped to me (hopefully not another lemon), and I'll be shipping this clunker back with the free postage paid return label that was included, and no restocking fee since the tab is defective. And if it is defective? I'll return it again and get my mom a different tablet.

So my point in all this is that AT&T has done nothing to warrant any animosity from me. Samsung, however, is on it's 2nd strike. But I'm not too upset because I understand defective products exist. It's how a company responds to it that's key, and AT&T has been excellent on that front. Just wanted to provide a counter point because it seems those here that are upset are really just upset at something that AT&T never promised in the first place. Plus there is a 14-day return period. If you couldn't figure out things like you'd be using it mostly on wi-fi instead of the cell network within that period, then the blame is squarely on you.

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 ICS Update?

Yes, AT&T is on it because you have the model that specifically uses its data network. That's all. The tablet was made wholly by Samsung.

2) I pay AT&T for services every month. Implied in that payment is technical support.

The technical support is for the data service, not the tablet. 2 totally sepearate things. It's like if your TV breaks and you blame your cable company or the store you bought it from. If it's beyond the store's 30-day return policy, you'd have to deal with the TV manufacturers warranty.Now if you were paying the 6.99 insurance plan, that'd be a different story - however I don't think that covers a device not getting an update that was never promised in the first place and is actually still in the works.

3) AT&T can't support the Tablet themselves. (AT&T has Samsung on the line twice in previous support calls)

Of course they can't. While they have general knowledge of the devices, do you think they can support the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of different devices that come from dozens of different manufacturers? And isn't actually a good thing they brought on a Samsung person rather than just said sorry, go call Samsung? While they may not have the answer themselves, at least they did their best to route you to someone who they thought would.

4) I have never contacted Samsung on my own.

You called the number that showed up on your Samsung device and it ended up being Samsung. Not sure how AT&T was involved with that.

5) Yes, I understand you are frustrated with your experience, but I'm just posting this respectful rebuttal because being someone who worked as a customer service rep in the past myself, I can see the other side of this as well.

Re: Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 ICS Update?

I did the update this morning. Worked without a hitch. FINALLY!

I love the improvements and Chrome is the default browser. Syncs with my desktop, and laptop. This was the most important part of the update as many of the browser-based applications that I used daily would not work well with the old version.

I have no expectations of receiving Jelly Bean. This upgrade will hold me over until I decide on a new tablet with a faster processor, etc.